Chapter 50
Hell: Been There, Done That
Rodney’s body appeared dead, but his brain was still active.
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His unconscious mind was locked in mortal combat with the man from the tower. His rage grew more intense as he struck the man repeatedly. Extreme pain coursed up his leg, his skin burned as if doused in hot grease. His head was pounding so hard he could barely see, but he continued to beat on the man’s face until he felt bones crumbling under his fists.
A perverse pleasure washed over him as the attacker’s body disintegrated into a bloody pulp. He tasted the man’s blood splattered on his face.
Rodney thought his fight was over, but then he heard a familiar laugh. It was the man who molested him when he was eleven years old. No one believed Rodney when he told them what happened. Filled with rage, he jumped on the man and gouged his fingers deep into the molester’s eyes while kicking him in the groin. As the man fell helplessly to the ground, Rodney began stomping on his face. “Yes,” he thought, “revenge!”
Again, Rodney thought his fight was over, but he continued to fight every person who ever wronged him until he no longer knew who they were. He struggled with one foe after another, suffering as much pain and torment as he inflicted. Every unrestrained emotion of anger and bitterness he’d ever experienced had boiled to the surface and he was locked in a perpetual battle with his inner demons. As soon as he would vanquish one foe, another would appear. The perverse satisfaction of revenge faded, replaced with profound pain, disgust and remorse. Rodney was at the mercy of his own hate, and felt himself slipping deeper into the pit of hopelessness.
“Jesus, forgive me!” he cried in a final gasp.
A quiet still nothingness enveloped him followed by a slow drifting upward like floating to the surface of a lake. A light appeared and he imagined he was looking into the face of God.
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Claude was trying his best to revive Rodney’s limp body. He continued CPR while Steve and Dan were massaging his legs to get blood flowing. Chris and Haley were praying and laying on hands with such passion it looked like a Pentecostal revival. The whole thing might have been amusing if it weren’t deadly serious.
After ten minutes, Rodney began breathing and color returned to his face. He opened his eyes and managed to speak three words, “I saw Jesus.”
He was medevacked to a Tampa hospital where he made a complete recovery. The police thought the whole story was a hoax since the attacker had disappeared and the doctors found no trace of snake venom or anti-venom in Rodney’s system.
Claude and the others were left wondering how he survived. Was it the medicine, Haley’s special powers, or did God answer their prayers?
Students were eager to see Rodney when he returned to the Institute the following week. Chris and Haley were with him when Dan and Steve stopped by. The room was filled with cards and flowers from friends. Dan whispered to Steve, “I didn’t know he had friends.”
Rodney looked different. At first, Dan thought he’d lost weight, but then realized it was something else. Rodney was smiling. It was a facial expression few students had ever witnessed, creating an entirely different appearance.
“Please don’t take this the wrong way,” Dan said, “but near-death experiences look good on you.”
“Well,” Rodney said, “I’ve been born again, fully immersed this time.”
Both Chris and Haley were eager to hear Rodney’s story.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you a few questions,” Chris said.
“Go ahead, ask away. I know you’re curious. To be honest, I’ve been itching to tell somebody.”
“Do you remember when you woke up at the tower? Chris asked, then added, “You said you saw Jesus.”
Rodney shook his head to indicate he didn’t remember awaking or saying anything at the tower.
“The last thing I recall before the hospital was my escape from the gates of Hell.”
Chris looked surprised. “That’s a big change. You’ve always said you don’t believe in Hell; that God wouldn’t give us free will to make our own choices, but then condemn us for choosing.”
Rodney explained, “The ancient Hebrew scripture describes Hell as a place where unsaved souls are ‘burnt or consumed.’ I interpreted that as meaning you cease to exist rather than a place of eternal torment.”
Rodney’s voice trembled as he continued, “Now I know better. Hell does exist, and it’s a place of horrible suffering, but I still don’t think of it as a place of punishment.”
“Then if Christ didn’t die as punishment for our sins, what was the point?” Chris asked.
“He didn’t die as punishment ‘for our sins,’ he laid down his life as a path to save us ‘from our sins,’” Rodney answered. “Maybe it’s just semantics, but it’s important to me. I believe in God, and love him completely, but figured Heaven couldn’t be a very nice place if it was full of people like me. It’s like Groucho Marx said, ‘I wouldn’t want to join any club that would have me as a member.’”
Chris sighed, “That’s an amusing perspective, but if there’s no punishment for sin, then the death of Jesus on the Cross had no meaning.”
“It means everything!” Tears of emotion were streaming down Rodney’s face. “For one brief moment at his crucifixion, Jesus suffered the ultimate humiliation. He gave up his divinity. It must have been horrifying and bewildering to be separated from the Godhead. But as we know, it didn’t end there. He was reunited with the Trinity, creating a path by which we may also become a part of the divine. We think Jesus’ resurrection was the miracle, but we don’t experience the real miracle until death. Jesus didn’t change when he passed from this world, ‘we will change.’ Through Christ, our souls will be spiritually cleansed as we join the father in Heaven.”
“So what’s the point of Hell if it isn’t about punishment?” Haley asked.
“All souls must go somewhere,” Rodney answered. “God didn’t want me to go to Hell. At the last possible moment when I sensed the hopelessness of my situation, I cried out, ‘Jesus, forgive me.’”
“And that’s when he appeared to you?” Chris asked.
“Not exactly, but as soon as I stopped fighting and surrendered to Christ, the rage vanished and the pain stopped. A force lifted me and I felt a love unlike anything my mind could imagine. Then I woke up in the hospital.”
“Are you saying a person can still be saved after death?” Chris asked.
“I wouldn’t know. I wasn’t dead. Your prayers brought me back.”
Even as a Christian, this was hard for Dan to accept. He started to wonder if Rodney had suffered brain damage or was having delusions, but Chris continued his questions.
“So you didn’t see Jesus?”
“He’s right here,” Rodney replied.
That comment stunned Dan. He thought Rodney was being literal and then whispered to Steve, “Brain damage, definitely brain damage.”
Rodney lifted his hand to his chest and added, “In my heart.” Then Dan understood.